Viktor Frankl: A Life Worth Living

By Anna Redsand

Book Overview

When he was a teenager in Austria, Viktor Frankl began developing logotherapy, a revolutionary form of psychotherapy based on the belief that humanity's primary motivational force is the search for meaning. Unlike most forms of psychotherapy, logotherapy encourages patients to look to the future and live their lives fully, rather than relive the past. Then something happened that put Frankl's philosophies to the test: He and his wife and parents were sent to a concentration camp. Frankl survived; his family did not. In his grief, Viktor turned to his work. The outcome was his magnum opus: Man's Search for Meaning, an account of life in the camps from the point of view not only of a survivor but a psychologist. The writing of this book saved Viktor in his darkest hour and was the beginning of a new start in what was to be a long and rewarding life. Man's Search for Meaning went on to become one of the most influential books of our time. This thoroughly researched biography is a compelling account of one man's struggles and, ultimately, his triumphant success in forging a life worth living. Author's note, bibliography, end notes.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0618723439
• ISBN13: 9780618723430
• Release Date: December 2006
• Publisher: Clarion Books
• Length: 150 Pages
• Weight: 1.58 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.3" x 0.8" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 10 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 5 to 7

Customer Reviews

oustanding

If someone ask me, what is the meaning of life? This book would be my answer.

Viktor Frankl: A Life Worth Living

For those curious about the man behind the famous book Man's Search for Meaning, this solid, serious biography chronicles an inspiring life. Austrian Jew, Viktor Frankl, was a practicing psychiatrist and creator of logotherapy. His new treatment differed from Sigmund Freud's and Alfred Adler's, giants who began as his mentors and ended as his angry competitors. Frankl spent two and a half years in four concentration camps during the Holocaust. He believed people could exist on their inner strength. Using his previous experience doctoring suicide patients, he helped many fellow inmates survive. Upon liberation, he wrote one of the first camp exposés, Man's Search for Meaning, one of the ten most influential books in America, according to the Library of Congress. More than a personal story, Frankl analyzed the situation as a psychiatrist connecting it to his logotherapy, which finds meaning in action, creation, and suffering. Frankl, a prankster as a child, grew into a man with a flair for risk; his favorite activities included brain surgery, mountain climbing and casino gambling. The volume chronologically unfolds his life, often making parallels with Adolf Hitler who once lived near the Frankl home in Vienna. Marvelous family portraits and wonderful old postcards of Vienna set the scene and recapture the era. Warm moments discuss Frankl's family life, his two marriages and one daughter. If only title and chapter fonts had followed suit; they are frenetic, slanted and tacky. These are small quibbles in a well written book that, though text bookish, overflows with clearly explained information about heavy topics: competing psychiatric theories, discipline of logotherapy, Nazi rise to power and targeted destruction of Jews. For ages 12 and up.

Crucial source of hope for troubled teens

What genius to make the Victor Frankl story accessible to young adults! On the verge of flying solo in a world that can be cruel, teens need a story of hope from someone who survived one of the cruelest periods in history. This book brings to light some overlooked facts about the second world war, particularly Hitler's rise to power. Frankl's discovery of how life's meaning gives a person the power to survive, however, is a staff that will guide many young adults throughout their lives.

Viktor Frankl - a discovery

Remarkably cogent and clear history of Frankl and his times and life and career. Beautifully researched and copiouslly illustrated with photographs from his Vienna and other sites from his life. I was gifted this book by a friend and am most grateful to him.

A young adult read too important to be limited to the children's section alone

Clarion Books is a children's book publisher so rarely do their titles ever appear in our adult issues - but Viktor Frankl: A Life Worth Living is a young adult read too important to be limited to the children's section alone, and many an adult will appreciate this survey of his achievement. A prison in the Nazi camps during the war, Frankl's development of logotherapy - a form of psychotherapy encouraging patients to look to the future rather than reliving traumas of the past - was to serve as a key to recovery and finding meaning in lives destroyed during the war. His biography is a powerful blend of Holocaust images, history, and facts, and makes for an outstanding coverage not to be missed by any age.